Adopting Synchronous Technology
Synchronous modeling clearly provides outstanding improvements over traditional modeling; however each company will want to adopt the new technology on their own schedule. For this reason, both traditional and synchronous environments are provided, including the ability to mix traditional and synchronous parts in a single assembly.
To decide when is the right time for you, you should budget time to test the synchronous tools and workflows. A good way to do this is by building models you are familiar with, but using synchronous modeling environments rather than traditional. You should also try converting some of your existing models to see how they can be edited using Synchronous Technology. (Note that conversion is an irreversible process, so you should do this on copies of your models during this exploration phase.)
When you are comfortable with synchronous modeling, you might choose to convert some of your existing models to synchronous models while still developing others with traditional modeling. When to use one or the other is up to each company, but the following states in the life cycle may be an important consideration:
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Released models
If no design changes are planned, convert these on a timetable convenient for your company. You may choose to keep these models as traditional and only convert them when a significant revision is necessary.
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In Design
If currently being designed using traditional techniques, it may be sensible to complete the design in the same fashion and convert the file at a later date.
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To Be Revised
You may choose to convert these to take advantage of synchronous modeling and the ease of the editing process, particularly if the revision is likely to take a different path than the original modeler intended.
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New Designs
Synchronous modeling is recommended. However, parts with a large amount of surfacing work or a great number of interacting rounds may benefit from remaining in traditional mode at this time.
Another important consideration is the percentage of sheet metal parts used within your organization. If your organization uses predominantly sheet metal parts, then you may choose to use traditional modeling for all of your work until a synchronous sheet metal environment is available. If you have a lesser percentage of sheet metal parts, then you may choose to mix the two, using traditional for sheet metal and synchronous for your other parts.
For certain classes of work, you may wish to make use of traditional assemblies, although they can contain synchronous parts. For example, if you use XpresRoute, Frame, or Wiring, you will want to do these in a traditional assembly at this time. Likewise, when cutting assembly features into a part or adding weld material, a traditional assembly is required, though again, you can cut or add weld material to synchronous parts in the context of that assembly. Experiment with traditional assemblies and synchronous parts to find the right balance for your organization.
Stewart
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